ABSTRACT
The Inca were the greatest empire builders of ancient America, and they made a serious and largely successful effort to unify the institutions and language of their extensive South American empire. Peoples spread through North and South America and eventually developed a wide range of cultural types, ranging from nomadic groups of hunters and food gatherers to the elaborate empires of the Aztecs and the Inca and the culturally advanced Mayan states. Mayan culture in southern Mexico and Central America was distinguished by impressive achievements in writing, calendrical science, mathematics, and architecture. Warfare was central to Aztec society, and warriors shared with priests the place of greatest honor and influence. The division of labor and the development of craftsmanship among the Aztecs attained perhaps the highest level compatible with what was essentially an Upper Stone Age technology. The basic unit of Incan social organization was the ayllu a kinship group whose members claimed descent from a common ancestor.
